Read this first
The Regents are changing. Most tutoring sites still tell you otherwise.
New York is phasing out the Regents exam as a graduation requirement. Students who entered ninth grade in 2024-25 or earlier are the last cohort who must pass the exams to earn a diploma. Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, a passing Regents score is no longer required to graduate, and a broader set of graduation measures takes its place over the following years.
So should you stop caring? No, and here is the honest reason rather than the sales one.
- Students still sit the exams. Federal rules require exit testing in math, English and science. What changes is that a passing score stops gating the diploma — not that the exam disappears.
- The score lands on the transcript. New York transcripts carry Regents results, and that transcript is what colleges read.
- The exam is the course. A student ready for the Algebra II Regents is a student who actually learned Algebra II. That is the part that carries into next year, whatever the diploma rules say.
Rules and dates are set by the New York State Education Department and they move. Check the official Regents schedules for the dates that apply to your child, rather than any prep site — including this one.
Free tool: the Regents score calculator
Turn a raw score into the official scale score using the conversion chart NYSED actually published for that administration — 206 sittings, June 2014 – August 2026. You can also see how the curve has moved on each exam.
The exams we tutor
Each Regents fails students in its own particular way. What follows is where the points actually go missing, subject by subject.
Mathematics
- Algebra I
- Geometry
- Algebra II
The three math Regents build on each other. A shaky Algebra I is usually why Geometry and Algebra II fall apart two years later, so we check the foundations before drilling the current exam.
Science
- Living Environment
- Earth Science
- Chemistry
- Physics
Science Regents reward students who can read a diagram and explain a process in writing, not just recall facts. Lab requirements are set by the school and have to be satisfied before a student can sit the exam.
Social Studies
- U.S. History & Government
- Global History and Geography II
These are writing exams as much as history exams. Most of the points a student leaves behind are in the document-based and short-essay sections, which are learnable in a way memorising dates is not.
English
- High School English Language Arts
One long exam built on reading comprehension, argument writing and a text-analysis response. Students who write well in class still lose points here, because the rubric is specific and nobody teaches it explicitly.
One page per exam
Go straight to the exam your child is sitting
Each of these is a full page: what the exam asks, where its own students lose marks, what the state’s published conversion charts say about the pass line, and the free calculator for that subject.
Subject by subject
Ten exams, ten different ways to lose points
Nobody needs “Regents tutoring” in the abstract. They need Algebra II in March, or a Chemistry retake in August. For each exam: what the state hands your child in the room, and where the marks actually go missing. Every past exam and scoring key is public — we work from them, and so can you.
Mathematics
Algebra I Regents tutoring
High School Math Reference Sheet, printed inside the exam booklet
The reference sheet gives conversions and a handful of formulas — it does not tell a student which one the question wants. Most lost points here are modelling points: turning a paragraph into an equation, and reading a graph back into a sentence. We drill the translation, not the memorisation.
Algebra I Regents tutoring →Past Algebra I exams on nysedregents.org →Mathematics
Geometry Regents tutoring
High School Math Reference Sheet, printed inside the exam booklet
Proofs and constructions are where Geometry separates students. They are graded on justification, so a correct picture with no stated reason scores badly. That is a writing skill inside a maths exam, and it is teachable in a way that "try harder at geometry" is not.
Geometry Regents tutoring →Past Geometry exams on nysedregents.org →Mathematics
Algebra II Regents tutoring
High School Math Reference Sheet, printed inside the exam booklet
The hardest of the three maths, and the one where a shaky Algebra I finally shows. Trigonometry, logarithms and statistics arrive at once. We check the Algebra I foundations first, because drilling Algebra II on top of a gap just moves the failure later.
Algebra II Regents tutoring →Past Algebra II exams on nysedregents.org →Science
Living Environment Regents tutoring
No reference table; a state lab requirement must be satisfied before sitting the exam
Biology vocabulary is the visible problem; the real one is the written response. Students who can name a process still lose points explaining it. We work from released exams so the answer length and the wording match what the rubric actually rewards.
Living Environment Regents tutoring →Past Living Environment exams on nysedregents.org →Science
Earth Science Regents tutoring
Earth Science Reference Tables (ESRT) — supplied at the exam
The ESRT is the whole game: a large share of the exam is answerable straight from the tables by a student who knows their way around them, and almost none of it by a student who does not. Table navigation is a drillable skill, and it is the first thing we build.
Past Earth Science exams on nysedregents.org →Science
Chemistry Regents tutoring
Reference Tables for Physical Setting/Chemistry — supplied at the exam
Same logic as Earth Science, harder execution. Students arrive knowing the tables exist and not which table answers which question type. We pair each question family with its table until the lookup is automatic, then work on the calculation itself.
Chemistry Regents tutoring →Past Chemistry exams on nysedregents.org →Science
Physics Regents tutoring
Reference Tables for Physical Setting/Physics — supplied at the exam
Every formula is handed to the student. What is not handed over is knowing which quantity the question is really asking for, and keeping units straight through a multi-step problem. That is where the marks go.
Physics Regents tutoring →Past Physics exams on nysedregents.org →Social Studies
U.S. History & Government Regents tutoring
No reference material; documents are supplied inside the exam
A writing exam wearing a history exam’s clothes. The civic literacy essay and the short-answer document sets carry the marks, and both are rubric-driven. Learning the rubric is faster and more reliable than learning more dates.
Past U.S. History & Government exams on nysedregents.org →Social Studies
Global History & Geography II Regents tutoring
No reference material; documents are supplied inside the exam
The enquiry and essay sections reward students who can use a document rather than summarise it. We practise on released exams because the document types repeat, even when the topics do not.
Past Global History & Geography II exams on nysedregents.org →English
English Language Arts Regents tutoring
No reference material; all texts are supplied
One long exam: reading comprehension, an argument essay and a text-analysis response. Students who write well in class still lose points, because the rubric is specific and almost nobody is taught it explicitly. We teach it explicitly.
English Language Arts Regents tutoring →Past English Language Arts exams on nysedregents.org →Reference sheets & tables
Your child is given the formulas. That is not the same as knowing them.
More parents search for the reference sheet than for a tutor, and it is a reasonable instinct — so here is the straight version, exam family by exam family.
- Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II. One shared High School Math Reference Sheet, printed inside the exam booklet itself. Conversions and a short list of formulas — and nothing at all about which formula a given question wants. There is no separate “cheat sheet” to obtain: the sheet is already in the room, and it is deliberately thin.
- Earth Science. The Earth Science Reference Tables, supplied at the exam. This is the outlier: a large share of the paper is answerable directly from the tables by a student who can navigate them quickly, and by nobody else.
- Chemistry and Physics. Each has its own Physical Setting reference tables, supplied at the exam. Knowing they exist is not the skill. Knowing which table answers which question type, without hunting, is.
- Living Environment, the histories and ELA. No reference material. Everything needed is inside the paper — documents, passages, data — and the marks are in what the student writes about them.
The pattern across all of them: New York gives students more than they think, and the exam is built on the assumption that they can use it under time pressure. The first thing we do in a science or maths Regents session is not content review — it is putting the tables in front of the student and timing them.
The current tables are published by the State Education Department at nysed.gov (science reference tables), and every past exam, with its scoring key, is free at nysedregents.org. Editions are revised from time to time, so we link the source rather than host a copy that would quietly go stale.
Regents tutoring across the five boroughs
One-on-one at 928 Broadway in the Flatiron, or fully remote by video. Same tutor, same written plan, same session length either way.
Manhattan
In person at 928 Broadway in the Flatiron District — 23rd Street (N/R/W/6) and Union Square (4/5/6/L/N/Q/R/W). Most of our in-person Regents students come from the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side, Chelsea and downtown.
The Bronx
Bronx families are the ones who search for Regents help most and find the least of it locally. Students already commuting into Manhattan for school come to Flatiron; everyone else works with us by video.
Brooklyn
Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg and Fort Greene. In person on the N/R and 4/5/6, or remote — a June exam does not care where the sessions happened.
Queens & Staten Island
Almost entirely remote, by choice. An August retake runs on a three-week clock; nobody should spend two hours of it on a bus or a ferry.
Three windows a year
Regents exams are administered in January, June and August. Which one your child sits changes how we work: a June exam is a term-long build, an August retake is a three-week repair job.
January
A short winter administration, usually in the second half of the month. Often used for retakes and for students on an accelerated track.
June
The main administration, spread over roughly two weeks in mid-to-late June. This is where most students sit most of their exams.
August
A brief summer window, mainly for retakes after a June result.
How it works
- A diagnostic first, $150. Usually a past exam under real conditions. It tells us whether the problem is content, exam technique or timing — three different problems that look identical on a report card.
- A written plan. Which topics, in which order, against the date of the exam they are actually sitting.
- One-on-one sessions, $125 each. Never in a group. At 928 Broadway in the Flatiron, or fully remote by video.
- Pay per session. No contracts, no packages, no minimum. If it stops being useful, you stop.
Reviews
Don't take our word for it
Genius Prep changed my life! It was all tears doing homework and projects with my 4th-grade daughter. Now I pick her up and she is smiling and skipping home. LOVE this place.
Marne Gabay
April 2022
Outstanding tutoring service. The individualized attention and structured approach made a real difference. Highly recommend to any parent in the NYC area.
Rebecca Taskin
July 2023
The structured approach and individualized attention made all the difference for my son. His confidence in math went from zero to leading his class.
Ann Wool
October 2017
Questions parents actually ask
Do students still have to pass Regents exams to graduate?
It depends on when your child started high school. Students who entered ninth grade in 2024-25 or earlier are the final cohort required to pass the exams to earn a diploma. Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, passing a Regents exam will no longer be a graduation requirement in New York State. The exams themselves continue to be administered.
If they are being phased out, why prepare for them at all?
Three reasons. Students will still sit exit exams under federal rules even once passing is no longer required. The scores go on the New York transcript that colleges read. And the exam content is the course content — a student who is ready for the Living Environment Regents is a student who actually learned biology that year.
When are Regents exams given?
Three times a year: January, June and August. June is the main administration and August is largely for retakes. Exact dates are set by the State Education Department and published on its website — we point families there rather than repeat dates that change.
My child failed a Regents in June. What now?
The August window exists for exactly this. It is a short runway, so the first session is a diagnostic on the actual exam they sat: we find out whether the gap was content, exam technique, or timing, because those three need completely different work.
Where do I find the Algebra 1 Regents reference sheet?
You do not need to find it. Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II share one High School Math Reference Sheet, and it is printed inside the exam booklet the student is handed. Earth Science, Chemistry and Physics each have their own reference tables, also supplied at the exam and published by the State Education Department. The useful work is not obtaining the sheet, it is practising with it under time so the lookup is automatic on the day.
Can we book tutoring for one subject only?
That is the normal case. Most families come with one exam and one date — Algebra II in June, a Chemistry retake in August — and that is what we prep. The diagnostic is run on that exam, and the plan covers that exam.
Do you tutor Regents subjects we do not see listed?
Ask. The list on this page covers the exams we work on most often. New York also administers Regents exams in several world languages, and school-level requirements vary.
How much does it cost?
Regents tutoring is $125 per session, and every student starts with a $150 diagnostic. You pay per session — no contracts, no packages, no minimum number of hours.
Also preparing for an admissions test? See SHSAT prep for the specialized high schools, ISEE & SSAT prep for independent schools, or digital SAT prep and ACT prep for college. Already have a Regents result in hand? The Regents score calculator reads it against the official NYSED chart for that exact sitting.
Take the next step
Which Regents is your child sitting?
Tell us the subject and the exam date. We start with a diagnostic so the plan fits the gap, not the calendar.